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Ancient Roman coins found in ruins of old Japanese castle

Infinite Chaos

Infinite Chaos

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Archaeologists were left baffled by the "strange" discovery of ancient Roman coins buried in the ruins of ~ Katsuren Castle on Okinawa Island, and were originally thought to be a hoax before their true provenance was revealed. ~ the relics bore the image of Emperor Constantine I. Link.
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This promises to shift some of our understanding of history but then Alexander was known to have reached into India, India was also a major trade hub which saw Buddhism, martial arts and other areas eventually reach Japan.

Thoughts?
 
Infinite Chaos said:
This promises to shift some of our understanding of history but then Alexander was known to have reached into India, India was also a major trade hub which saw Buddhism, martial arts and other areas eventually reach Japan.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I read that. Pretty cool. The story behind it would be interesting.
 
Infinite Chaos said:
This promises to shift some of our understanding of history but then Alexander was known to have reached into India, India was also a major trade hub which saw Buddhism, martial arts and other areas eventually reach Japan.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I read something not that long ago about people finding Roman oil laps as far out as Malaysia and the general area.
International trade has been going on for millennium.
 
Infinite Chaos said:
This promises to shift some of our understanding of history but then Alexander was known to have reached into India, India was also a major trade hub which saw Buddhism, martial arts and other areas eventually reach Japan.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Very cool. My dauhter has recently been getting into artifacts and coin collecting so this will be interesting to share with her.
 
It is a cool find, and reminds us the world still has some history to discover.
 
Infinite Chaos said:
This promises to shift some of our understanding of history but then Alexander was known to have reached into India, India was also a major trade hub which saw Buddhism, martial arts and other areas eventually reach Japan.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Here's another one.
Pretty cool stuff, I'm betting dollars to donuts, it was moved via trade routes.

Kinda supports my claim.

Gotland, if you're not familiar was a go between trade point, for Northern Europe and the rest of the east.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Swedes find Viking-era Arab coins
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
Here's another one.
Pretty cool stuff, I'm betting dollars to donuts, it was moved via trade routes.

Kinda supports my claim.

Gotland, if you're not familiar was a go between trade point, for Northern Europe and the rest of the east.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Swedes find Viking-era Arab coins
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Absolutely, the Unesco website records Chinese porcelain at the ruins of Great Zimbabwe too. However the Roman coins from 400AD are really interesting as I think (guessing here) this may be the earliest example?
 
Infinite Chaos said:
Absolutely, the Unesco website records Chinese porcelain at the ruins of Great Zimbabwe too. However the Roman coins from 400AD are really interesting as I think (guessing here) this may be the earliest example?
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Possibly, I tried to find the article on the oil lamps in the Malay/Indonesia area.
Couldn't find it, but I believe it was a BBC story.
 
Infinite Chaos said:
This promises to shift some of our understanding of history but then Alexander was known to have reached into India, India was also a major trade hub which saw Buddhism, martial arts and other areas eventually reach Japan.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Two thoughts...

... surprised we dont see a lt more of this stuff and...

... a great movie idea.
 
Could mean a whole lot of things- some Japanese samurai might have bought Roman coins way back when and brought them over there.
 
Infinite Chaos said:
This promises to shift some of our understanding of history but then Alexander was known to have reached into India, India was also a major trade hub which saw Buddhism, martial arts and other areas eventually reach Japan.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Well we know that the Parthians and the Han Dynasty of china traded and had good relations. And these relations were very important to the Parthians for their wealth.

We also know the Parthians were a neighbor and constant trading partner and rival to Rome. So it is not hard to fathom Roman coins reaching the shorelines of China. Especially since we know that the Roman emperors around the time of Hadrian were concerned about the gold going east for that silly stuff known as silk.

We also know that China was a trading partner with Japan and the first mention of Japan in Chinese records is in the Han dynasty. It isn't hard to believe that they had trade with islands like Okinawa as well. And it would be believable if it were around the time of the Han. Trade networks went a very long way even then. Heck, Rome was well aware of China and vice versa. The only reason they weren't direct trading partners was because of Parthia.

Not hard to believe at all. :)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road

In fact, im surprised it wasn't found sooner.


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This has me now wondering about contacts between other civilizations and how much they knew about the world around them. Were they devoid of the knowledge? Were they aware of their connections?


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Infinite Chaos said:
This promises to shift some of our understanding of history but then Alexander was known to have reached into India, India was also a major trade hub which saw Buddhism, martial arts and other areas eventually reach Japan.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Just because the coins were minted sometime in 5th century does not mean they arrived in Japan in the 5th century. The castle wasn't even constructed until the 13th century so it is likely that the coins made their way there through countless transactions and trade over many centuries.
 
Napoleon said:
Not necessarily. Just because the coins were minted sometime in 5th century does not mean they arrived in Japan in the 5th century. The castle wasn't even constructed until the 13th century so it is likely that the coins made their way there through countless transactions and trade over many centuries.
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Very true, but still it is not unlikely that Roman currency made its way to the shores of China at minimum in the 5th century. There was a very active trade route between the Han and Parthia and Parthia and Rome.


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